When Christian Schools Forget Their Calling
What follows is a true story from a visit to a Christian university in the United States, though the names have been changed.
Justin glanced across the seats stretched across the front of the room. There were three remaining seats to choose from. He nervously sat down next to an upperclassman poised and ready to answer questions. The boy – no, the young man – hadn’t been asked to serve on a panel before, but he had proven himself as a young leader at the university. The final panelist filed in and took a spot by her friend and next to a bright-eyed freshman who found himself at the event only because his older brother was running it.
They were there to answer questions about the university, raised by prospective families and school leaders.
“Why did you choose this school?” asked a college guidance counselor.
“Personally, I never wanted to attend a Christian university, but once I learned that they don’t shove Christianity down your throat at this one, then I felt like I would be okay here,” answered an upperclassman.
“It was the same for me. I went to a Christian school in high school, and they really forced Christianity down our throats. It’s different here because anyone is welcome and the classes don’t have to mention Christ. I really like that they don’t force on you what to believe and I wouldn’t have chosen any other Christian university.”
A third student responded, “Actually it was the opposite for me. I also attended a Christian school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and I always knew I wanted to attend a Christian college. So many kids from my school attended here that it just felt like the normal thing to do. I was shocked when I got here and found myself all on my own for my faith. It’s not built into the structure of everything here.”
Finding herself a bit surprised, an audience member asked a follow-up question, “Do professors teach with a biblical worldview?”
“Well, I do have a professor pray before class, but it’s just math class so there isn’t really a way to apply the Bible to that,” said the most senior student.
Justin found his opportunity to jump in, “Yeah, I have a professor that prays before class, but she is inclusive of everyone and actually just has a moment of silence when everyone can pray or offer thoughts to whatever god they want.” Justin listened with pride as his peers continued. He admired how the university welcomed everyone and didn’t insist on making every subject overtly Christian. It felt open, mature, and respectful.
Yet, those in the audience wondered, if Christ wasn’t central in the classroom, was He central at all?
Can a Christian school teach “Christianly” without forcing Christianity upon the students? Or do these equate? What does it mean for a Christian school to be inclusive, and should it strive to be? These students believed that teaching from a Christian worldview was shoving Christianity down their throats. This graphic image signals two lies of the modern age:
- Christianity can be regulated to a small “religious” sphere which should be kept private, never interfering with academics, public life, recreation, or any other sphere.
- To talk openly about the lordship of Christ over all things is offensive and invasive.
The issue here is not teaching about Christianity as a religion or offering academic Bible classes to those who are interested; the students are actually taking issue with Christianity as worldview. All people have a worldview that serves to answer big questions: where did we come from (origins)? Who am I (identity)? What am I here for (purpose)? How should I live (morality) What will happen after I die (destiny)? One’s worldview will affect their outlook on relationships, money, time, politics, business, family, academics, recreation – all of it.
The students previously described were celebrating a university that claimed to be objective, neutral, and inclusive in all those places where Christianity (supposedly) has no place, such as math class. The presumption that you can have a worldview-neutral classroom is not just false, it is dangerously naïve. Worldview is inherent to education. In our story, Justin brought up his math class, unaware that even one’s understanding of mathematics is shaped by worldview. The naturalist would say that math is a human invention used to describe patterns that we observe in nature. Math is not true in any transcendent sense; it’s just a convention that works. There is no reason to be awed by symmetry, pattern, or precision. There is no goodness or beauty to be found in mathematics because it is reduced to the pragmatic. The Marxist views math as an oppressive social construct and suspects its objective nature. In contrast, the Christian teacher shows that math is objectively true, reflecting the consistent and rational character of God. It reveals God’s order in creation. It demands integrity and invites wonder. Math is not only true, but it is also good and beautiful, and we worship God by learning it. In this example, we see that the Christian faith cannot be relegated just to the religious sphere, for all truth belongs to God. I wonder, then, from what worldview the classes and instructors are operating if not a Christian worldview?
Let’s tackle the second lie of our modern age. If a Chrisitan school ensures that all classes are taught from a Christian worldview, is it being offensive and invasive? Certainly. The gospel is offensive to those who do not believe that there is an authority greater than themselves and those who deny their sinful nature. 1 Peter 2:8 says that to those who do not believe, Christ is “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (ESV). In a postmodern age of tolerance and denial of truth, even those students who claim to be Christian hear the mention of God, Christ, or the Bible as being intolerant (offensive and invasive) and feel as if it is being “shoved down their throats”. They believe that they should be able to build their own truth based on experience, thanks in part to decades of John Dewey’s influence on education. This is cleverly translated to ‘Christianese’ as “I need to own my faith myself.” But biblical faith is not discovered in isolation; it is formed in community, through submission to God’s Word and the leadership of the church. As Ephesians 4:11–14 explains, God gave teachers and shepherds to equip the saints and build them up to maturity, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.” The modern impulse to construct one’s own truth through personal experience stands in stark contrast to this model of discipleship, which depends on formation, not self-creation.
Education is formational. This is why the naivety of neutral classrooms is dangerous. When, in the name of inclusivity, a professor at a Christian university trades prayer time for a moment of silence when all students can offer their own thoughts to whatever god they please, they are forming Christian students, making them believe that the right way to behave in society is to accept all worldviews. They shove postmodernism down their throats.
When a student attends secular universities, they can expect a hostile environment. They go in with heightened awareness that they will hear ideas from competing worldviews and can be adequately prepared to handle such notions. However, when a student attends a Christian university, he expects to be formed according to a Christian worldview. With defenses down, the student is left exposed and is easily led to and fro.
In the absence of genuine Christian worldview integration, alternative worldviews will quickly fill the vacuum to form students and influence the greater society. If Christian schools and universities fear being offensive more than they fear being unfaithful, they may still carry the name of Christ, but they will cease to form disciples. We must not “be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16, ESV).